Phonographic street announcer for vehicles



Feb. 16, 1932.

R. PHILLIPS PHONOGRAPHIG STREET ANNOUNCER 'Fon VEHICLES Filed Sept. 3, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Hag mend P5122 A ATTORNEY I Feb. 16, 1932. R pHlLUPS 1,845,763

PHONOGRAPHIC STREET ANNOUNCEH FOR VEHICLES Filed Sept. 3, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR I Jiez mond J97: z'lZz rs.

(I ATTORNEY F Patented Feb. 16, 1932 UNITED STATES BAY PHILLIPS, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN PHONOGBAPHIC STREET ANNOUNCER FOR VEHICLES Application flied September 3, 1929. Serial No. 390,118.

This invention relates to repeating phonographs, and particularly to mechanisms adapting phonographs to automatically call out the names of cross streets traversed by a vehicle as the latter approaches such streets.

An object of the invention is to provide improved means for limiting the actuation of a phonographic record responsive to a temporary energization of the drive motor in therefor.

Another object is to provide an improved mechanism for automatically throwing one of two reproducers out of contact with a corresponding record when the latter has been 155 fully traversed by said reproducer, and for simultaneously bringing the other reproducer into operative engagement with a companion record.

These and various other objects the inven- 50 tion attains by the construction hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a street car equip ed with the herein disclosed $5 phonograp lic street announcer.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the phonograph and its drive mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of the same, taken upon the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing an alternative position of the reproducer-carrying frame.

Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view, taken upon the line 55 of Fig. 2, and showing a pair of bearings for corresponding ends of the record-receiving mandrels carried by a hinged end wall of the casing.

Fig. 6 is a cross section taken upon the line 6-6 of Fig. 2, showing the drive gearing for the record-receiving mandrels.

Fig. 7 is a view in side elevation of an automatic switch associated with one of the gears of Fig. 6 to limit the periodic rotative advance of the records, further diagrammatically showing the electrical circuits and other features of the electrical control.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view in rear elevation of the upper portion of the trolley pole of the car shown in Fig. 1, disclosing a contact maker carried by an arm mounted on said pole, and controlled by a shoe fastened to guy wires supporting the trolley wire. a

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a pivoted sealed tube containing a quantity of mercury, 45 showing also a provision for tilting said tube in a limiting position of its travel along its pivotal axis.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of certain automatic switch parts carried by an end -00 wall of the casing.

In these views, the reference character 1 designates a casing in which a pair of cylindrical records 2 are mounted upon a pair of spaced parallel horizontal mandrels 3. The 05 latter, as is common practice, are tapered to facilitate removal and replacement of said records. Trunnions 4, rigidly axially carried by the larger ends of said mandrels are journaled in bearings 5 upon an adjacent :7 partition 5a in said casing. The smaller ends ofsaid mandrels carry trunnions 6 normally journaled in U-shaped bearings 7 upon the adjacent end wall of the casing. The latter is hinged at its lower edge as indicated at 8, so that it may be swung out to permit ready removal and replacement of records.

Journaled in the partition 50 and in a plate 9 transversely fixedly mounted in the casing is a pair of spaced feed screws 10 and 11 parallel to the axes of the mandrels 3 and correspondingly threaded. The trunnions 4 and feed screws 10 and 11 are geared together at one end of the casing as indicated at 12 to be driven at equal speeds. Power for establishing such drive is derived from a motor 13, and transmitted through a speedreducing gear train 14, 15, 16, meshing with one of the gears 12. The gears 12, 14, 15 and 16 may occupy a compartment 16a at one end of the casing 9.

Extending parallel to and between the feed screws 10 and 11 is a guiderod 17 terminally mounted in the partition 5a and plate 9 and slidably and pivotally carrying a frame 18. The latter projects transversely to said rod at each side thereof, and terminally carries a pair of reproducers 19, each coacting with one of the records 2. By a slight tilting of said frame on the guide rod .100

. mental feed nuts 20 for engagement respectively with the screws 10 and 11, the arrangement being such that as either reproducer is lowered upon its record, the corresponding feed screw is engaged by its feed nut while the other feed nut is disengaged from its feed screw, as is clearly brought-out in Figs. 3 and 4. Pivotallysurmounting the frame 18 is a sealed tube 21 containing a quantity of mercury 22. Said tube projects substantially equally at each side of its pivot, which is parallel to and abovethe rod 17.

Said tube may occupy either of the two re-- Versely inclined positions illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, upstanding bosses 23 being formed upon the frame 18 to support the lowermost end of the tube in either of said positions. Said mercury,- in eitherlimiting position of said tube occupies the lowered end thereof, and its weight holds one or the other of the reproducers 9 engaged with itsrecord, and the corresponding feed nut 20 engaged with its feed screw, and further acts to maintain the other reproducer and feed nut respectively disengaged from the corresponding record and feed screw. The inclination assumed by the tube 21 in either describedposition is considerably more acute than the resulting inclination of the frame 18 for reasons hereinafter explained. At opposite sides of its pivot, the central portion of the tube 21 carries a pair of lugs 24 oppositely projecting parallel to the guide rod 17, and the par.- tition 5a and plate 9 are eachrformed with an inclined projection 25, upon, which the lugs are adapted to ride in the limiting sliding positions of the frame 18, to reverse the inclination of the tube 21and thereby disconnect the then operative reproducer 19 and feed nut 20 from the engaged record and feed screw and 'operatively engage the other reproducer and feed nut with the other record and feed screw. This results in a reversal of travel of the frame 18 until its other limiting position is reached, whereupon the other projection 25 becomes eflective to again tilt the frame.

The casing 1 containing the described apparatus is shown in Fig.1 as installedin the front end of a street car 26, the trolley pole and trolley wire of which are indicated. at 27 and 28 respectively. At'suitable points between street intersections, cammed control shoes 29 are mounted upon certain of the guy wires 30 supporting said trolley wire, and are elongated some distance parallel to the trolley wire. In the drawings, only one of said shoes is illustrated, the same appearing in Figs. 1 and 8. The trolley pole laterally carries upon its upper portion an arm 31 terminally mountinga grooved. wheel 32 engageable with the shoe 29. Said wheel is journaled upon a plunger 33 slidable substantially vertically in a bearing 33a on the upper end of the arm 31 and normally raised to a limiting position by a coiled spring 34. Engagement of the wheel 32 with the shoe 29 is adapted to slide the plunger 3.3 downwardly sufficiently to bring the lower end of the latter into circuit closing engagement with one of two spring contacts 35 and 36, carried by the arm 31. One of said contacts is connected by a conductor 38 to a switch contact 39'upon a wall of the gear compartment 16a. Also mounted upon said wall, as indicated at 40, is a spring switch arm 41 having its free end normally engaging the contact 39, the fixed end of said contact being connected as indicated at '42 to one-terminalof themotor 13,'from the other terminal of whicha main 43 leads to a source of electrical energy (not shown) v 7 Upon a side face of the gear 15 a plunger 44 is radially slidable in guides 45, and a solenoid 46 acts upon one end portion of said coil, tending when energized to establish the outermost position of said plunger in which a head 47 on its outer end is engageable with a tongue 48 on the switch arm 41 to raise the latter clear of the contact 39. Aspring 49 coiled upon the plunger 44 opposes said solenoid, tending to shift the plunger sufficiently V inward uponthe gear 15 to permit its head 47 to ride clear of the tongue 48. The solenoid 46 has one terminal connected as indicated at 50, directly to the main 43,- and its other terminal is, connected as indicated at 51, to the conductor 38, so asto place said solenoid in series with the contacts 35 and 36. The other main 52 is connected to the contact 35.

In use of the described apparatus, when the grooved wheel 32 engages any of the shoes 29, the plunger 33 is downwardly displaced to electrically connect the contacts 35 and 36. This permits current to flow from the mains 43 and 52 through the solenoid 46 as follows: 52, 35, 36, 38, 51, 46, 50, and 43. The plunger 44 is thus shifted to its outermost position, in which it may engage the tongue 48. Also, the motor 13 is now energized as follows: 52, 35,36, 38,39, 41, 42, 13 and 43. Energization of the motor 13 is ordinarily only momentary, but is adequate to at least actuate the gear 15 through asingle revolution, and to efiect a definite number of revolutions of the records 2 suflicient to call off the name of a street. As the gear 15 completes a revolution, the head 47 of the plunger 44 engages the tongue 48 of the switch arm 41 and swings the latter clear of'tlie contact 39, thereby deenergi'zing names only through a predetermined number of revolutions.

hen the wheel 32 has cleared the shoe 29, the solenoid 46 will thereby be deenergized, permitting the spring 49 to inwardly retract the plunger 44, and allowing the switch arm ii to again make contact with the contact 39. Thus, when another shoe 29 is encountered by the wheel 32 through continued travel of the street car, the motor may again be energized through closing of the circuit between the contacts 35 and 36.

The described device definitely insures that the names of the cross streets will be clearly called off at the proper time, and re lieves the conductor of the burden of memorizing these streets and of noting the position of the street car relative to same.

\Vhile the apparatus has been described as applied to a street car, it is to be under stood that the repeating mechanism may be used for calling off advertising announcements and for various other purposes, the automatic control, of course, being suitably modified.

What I claim is:

1. In a repeating phonograph, a pair of parallel record-receiving mandrels, a common means for driving said mandrels, a pair of reproducers for coaction respectively with records on said mandrels, a frame carrying said reproducers and pivoted to alternatively engage either reproducer with the coacting record and simultaneously disengage the other reproducer from its record, means for driving said frame parallel to said mandrels at a uniform rate, and means for automatically reversing the direction of such travel and for reversing the pivotal position of the frame arranged at opposite ends of the path of travel of said frame.

2. In a repeating mechanism, a pair of parallel mandrels for mounting cylinder records, a common means for driving said mandrels, a pair of reproducers for coaction respectively with records on said mandrels, a frame carrying said reproducers and pivoted to tilt about an axis parallel to said mandrels to engage either of said reproducers with the companion record and simultaneously disengage the other resproducer from its record, screw-threaded means for actuating said frame back and forth parallel to said records, and means at each end of the path of travel of said frame for tilting said frame to reverse the relation of the reproducers to the records and for further reversing the travel of the frame.

3. In a repeating mechanism, a pair of prallel mandrels for mounting cylinder records, a pair of reproducers for coaction respectively with said records, a frame carrying said reproducers, a rod elongated parallel to said mandrels, mounting said frame for sliding travel and also for a tilting movement to alternatively engage either reproducer with the companion record and raise the other reproducer clear of its record, means for actuating sliding travel of said frame on said rod, and means engageable by said frame adjacent to each end of said rod for tilting the frame to reverse the relation of said reprodueers to the records, and for further reversing the direction of sliding actuation ofthe frame.

4. A repeating mechanism comprising a pair of parallel mandrels for receiving cylinder records, a pair of reproducers respectively coacting with said records, a frame carrying said reproducers, a rod elongated parallel to said mandrels pivoting said frame for a tilting movement to and from said records, and further mounting the frame for sliding travel, a pair of feed screws extending parallel to said rod, a pair of feed nuts carried by said frame and each engaged by one of said feed nuts in the reverse tilted positions of said frame, and means adjacent each end of said rod for tilting said frame to reverse the relation of said reproducers to the records and of said feed nuts to said feed screws.

5. A repeating mechanism comprising a pair of parallel mandrels for receiving cylindrical phonograph records, drive means for said mandrels, a frame elongated transverselyto said mandrels, a pair of reproducers carried by opposite ends of said frame for coaction respectively with said records, an elongated member mounting said frame for travel longitudinally of the mandrels and for a tilting movement to alternatively engage said reproducers with the records, means for uniformly actuating said frame longitudinally of the mandrels, a member centrally pivoted upon said frame for transferring weight from one side to the other of the pivot axis of said frame, and means engageable with said member in the limiting positions of sliding travel of said frame for automatically tilting said member.

6. A repeating mechanism comprising a pair of parallel mandrels for receiving cylindrical phonograph records, a guide member elongated in parallelism with said mandrels, a frame slid-able on said guide member and projecting at each side thereof, a pair of reproducers terminally carried by said frame and coacting respectively with said records, a tubular fluid container pivoted upon said frame and projecting at each side of said guide member toward the reproducers, drive means for said mandrels, means for actuating said frame back and forth on said guide means, and an element adjacent to each end of said guide member engageable with said tubular member to tilt the same in a limiting sliding position of said frame to thereby reverse the inclination of the frame and maintain such reversal.

7. Arepeating mechanism comprising a pair of parallel mandrels for receiving cylindrical records, a pair of feed screws respectively associated with said mandrels, ,a pair of feed nuts respectively coacting with said feed screws, a frame carrying said feed nuts and pivotally movable to alternatively engage either feed nut with its feed screw, a pair of reproducers carried by said frame adapted to be individually engaged with or disengaged from said records, according as said nuts are engaged or disengaged with said feed screws, means for actuating said mandrels and feed screws, and means for I maintaining either operative position of said frame.

8. In a multiple record phonograph, a pair of parallel record-receiving mandrels, a common means for driving said mandrels, a pair of reproducers, respectively coacting with said records, a feed screw and acoacting nut associated with each reproducer for shifting it longitudinally of said record, a mechanism connecting the two reproducers and the two nuts adapted to disengage each reproducer and the feed nut thereof from their record and feed screw, and simultaneously engage the other reproducer and its feed nut with their respective record and feed screw, and means automatically acting on said mechanism at the limits of travel of said nuts for reversing the relation of the reproducers and feed nuts to the records and feed screws.

In testimo y whereof I sign this specification.

RAY PHILLIPS. 

